The Senate has rejected all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending House Republican push to impeach the Cabinet secretary over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border and ending his trial even before the start of the proceedings.
Senators voted to reject the two articles of impeachment and end the trial, with Democrats arguing the articles were unconstitutional. The first article accused Mayorkas of “deliberate and systemic refusal to comply” with immigration law. The second article accused Mayorkas of “breach of trust” for saying the border was secure. party lines.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House Republicans’ case did not meet the “high standards of high crimes” and could set a dangerous precedent.
“For the sake of the integrity of the Senate and to protect impeachment in the rare case when we really need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said. opening Wednesday’s session.
Senate Republicans had argued for a full impeachment trial after the House narrowly voted in February to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the border, arguing in both articles that he had “willingly and consistently” refused to enforce immigration laws. The House vote was the first time in nearly 150 years that a Cabinet secretary was impeached.
An outright dismissal of House Republicans’ lawsuits against Mayorkas, without any opportunity to make their case, is an embarrassing defeat for House Republicans and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in trouble, which has made impeachment a priority. And it will likely have a political impact for both Republicans and Democrats in a presidential election year where border security is a major issue.
Republicans argue President Joe Biden has been weak on the border as arrests for illegal crossings soared to more than 2 million people in the final two years of his term, although they fell from a record of 250,000 in December in a context of strengthening controls in December. Mexico. Democrats say that instead of impeaching Mayorkas, Republicans should have agreed to a bipartisan compromise in the Senate aimed at reducing the number of migrants entering the United States illegally.
House impeachment managers presented the charges to the Senate on Tuesday, standing in the Senate well and reading them aloud to a captive audience of senators. But they didn’t get a chance to present their case before the Senate rejected it.
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of Homeland Security. Here are five things to know about the former DHS deputy secretary.
Once senators were sworn in Wednesday, the chamber transformed into an impeachment court, presided over by Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. Murray is the president pro tempore of the Senate, or the most senior member of the majority party who serves as vice president. Senators approached the Senate in groups of four to sign an oath book kept in the National Archives.
Schumer then called for votes to dismiss the trial after Republicans rejected a proposed deal on the length of debate in the Senate and several votes on GOP objections. Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt said Democrats were “bulldozing 200 years of precedent” on impeachment by trying to dismiss the trial.
Angry Republicans called for multiple votes to delay the inevitable final outcome, but none of them passed as all Democrats and three independents held firm.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said “history will not judge this moment well.”
“This process should not be abused,” McConnell said. “It must not be short-circuited.”
Yet Republicans also moved to dismiss former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021, weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. All but five Republican senators — including McConnell — voted to end the trial, arguing it was unconstitutional because Trump had already left office.
As Johnson signed the articles Monday in preparation for sending them through the Capitol, he said Schumer should call a trial to “hold accountable those who engineered this crisis.”
Schumer “is the only obstacle to holding the American people accountable,” Johnson said. “Under the Constitution, the House demands a trial.”
Even if the Senate held a trial, Republicans would not be able to gain the two-thirds support of the Senate needed to convict and remove Mayorkas from office – Democrats control the Senate, 51-49, and they appear to be at variance. united against the impeachment attempt. Not a single House Democrat supported it, either.
Mayorkas, who was in New York on Wednesday to launch a campaign for children’s online safety, reiterated that he was focused on the work of his department. “The Senate will do what it deems appropriate as things move forward,” he said. “I’m here in New York on Wednesday morning to fight online sexual exploitation and abuse. I am focused on our mission.
Johnson delayed sending the articles to the Senate for weeks while both chambers finished work on government funding legislation and took a two-week recess. Johnson had said he would send them to the Senate last week, but he pushed back again after Senate Republicans said they wanted more time to prepare.
At a hearing with Mayorkas on Tuesday about President Joe Biden’s budget request for the department, some of the House impeachment managers offered an overview of the arguments they would have made.
Tennessee Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told the secretary he had a duty under law to control and guard America’s borders, and “during in your three years as secretary, you have not fulfilled this oath. You have refused to follow the laws passed by Congress and you have betrayed the public trust. »
Mayorkas defended the department’s efforts but said the nation’s immigration system is “fundamentally broken and only Congress can fix it.”
The impeachment trial is the third in five years. Democrats have impeached President Donald Trump twice, once over his dealings with Ukraine and the second time in the days after the Capitol attack. Trump was acquitted by the Senate twice.
If the Senate had proceeded with a trial against Mayorkas, senators would have been forced to sit in their seats for an extended period of time, perhaps weeks, while the House impeachment managers and lawyers representing Mayorkas presented their arguments.
Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego, California, contributed to this report.
NBC Chicago
